How to Use the Smudge Tool in GIMP Freeware

Adobe Photoshop is one of the world’s most popular software programs, but it is expensive and not affordable for the casual digital photographer. GIMP is a powerful image editing program available for free (see Resources below). In this article we will show you how to use the smudge tool to improve the “eye flow” of a photographic image.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• GIMP 2.0 or later running on a PC
• A copy of an image for experimentation

1. Original Image Open your saved file in GIMP. The accompanying image is the interior of a castle restaurant in Amsterdam called Dan Wagg. Notice that the lower right group of windows has “shadow” images from the bikes and street outside. This is distracting from the object of the photo which is the interior and table. The other windows either have completely diffused light or the solid color of the door. Your eye travels to the lower right windows because your brain wants to know what is out there.
2. Zoom in on work area To fix this, first zoom in on the windows on the bottom right. You will need to use at least two different size smudge brushes and you want to have the work area as large as possible.
3. Smudge palette Select the SMUDGE tool from the tools palette. Select the largest circular brush so you can smudge a large area. Smudge is like finger painting. In this case, we want to smudge from the diffused white area to the other areas of the windows that have shadow objects and color. If you smudge from the dark to the light, you will smudge the dark colors into the light colors and make a mess. We want all frames in this window to look like the other diffused white windows. Work in small circular motions as if you were finger painting. Avoid smudging the window frame. If you do, UNDO and then select a smaller brush.
4. Change brush size After smudging as much as you can with the large brush, select a smaller brush and finish the operation. Remember, you are viewing an enlarged version of your image. If some of the smudging left some gray areas, choose the white area again and smudge until it looks even.
5. Final image In the final image the windows look the same as the other diffused white windows. It is a relatively small change, but makes for a better image. The eye is not confused now and your brain looks at the interior, not the shadow images outside. If you look at the before and after image side by side, the table appears to be darker in color, but it isn’t. The only changes made were to the lower right windows. Your brain now interprets the interior as a whole and the image looks richer in tone.

Tips & Warnings

• When downloading GIMP, make sure you download the help system. It is a separate download and also free.
• When smudging, remember that you are mixing the colors you have and may have to do it a number of times to achieve the desired effect.
• You can choose the pressure of the smudge brush and also choose to apply fade out or jitter to your smudge. Experiment with the different tools on different images.
• Always work with copies of your images to preserve your image archive.